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Last time I checked, there were literally dozens of special dividends paid in 4Q. Who was it that paid all of their 2013 dividends in 4Q in advance - Cisco? You'd be dumb not to pay yourself in 2012. I sold a shit ton of stocks in 4Q to lock in gains and the lower tax rate.

Outrage over this? Hell back when Bush had some sort of estate tax holiday elderly (and presumably infirm) people opted to pull the plug so as to allow their children/grandchildren to avoid having to pay a significantly higher estate tax rate. These guys are just accelerating bonus payments that have already been decided on and are going to be delivered right around February (Wall Street bonuses typically get paid around then).

They would be fools not to, especially when considering who they were actively rooting for during the election. Tax avoidance is not a crime, nor is it morally reprehensible; tax evasion IS. Wy is this shit on the front page? We have real problems, like our dysfunctional congress, the deregulation of the banking sector, environmental degradation, and a middle east that is a raging inferno of political, religious, and idiotic beliefs, why we focus on this shit is beyond me.

Did your company allow you to squirrel some of your future earnings into this year to avoid taxes? Should a public company like GS change its normal bonus/salary structure to benefit a few executives? How does this make GS and its shareholders better off?

Goldman routinely, alongside nearly every profitable company in the country, has a very solid future earnings forecast. Shifting the cost of bonuses (in stock and cash) from 1Q13 to 4Q12 didn't materially impact the company in any meaningful way. It's not like 1Q13 is going to hurt because they paid their employees. It was beneficial to all those involved to move the payment forward and continue along with business. There's nothing wrong what they did and you'd be surprised how many (hundreds if not thousands) companies change their bonus structure in shifting tax environments. My company pays us 1Q each year, but did move our restricted stock grants each of the last few years. Pretty common. My wife's company moved they pay date of their bonuses too. And you ask if a public company should change its normal practices? YES! The shareholders expect it. Moreover, they have done it time and time again while oodles of other companies do it too. What, do you expect publicly traded companies to work for the government?